March 28, 2024

stars-storyBy Jim Freeman

POMEROY – The 30th annual Ohio River Sweep will be held Saturday, June 20 from 9 a.m. to noon, and volunteers are needed to assist in this massive, six-state clean-up.

River Sweep is an event organized by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, an interstate water pollution agency for the Ohio River Valley, along with environmental protection and natural resource agencies from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Locally, the Meigs Soil and Water Conservation District will administer clean-up sites in Pomeroy and Racine. There will be no clean-up site in Syracuse. For more information on those sites contact Jenny Ridenour at the Meigs SWCD at 740-992-4282.

In addition, a clean-up will be held at Forked Run State Park near Reedsville on Friday, June 19 from 6-9 p.m. More information on that site is available by contacting Todd Bissell at 740-444-1388.

Volunteers may report that morning to the central gazebo near the riverfront amphitheatre in Pomeroy, or to Star Mill Park in Racine. Volunteers will get an Ohio River Sweep t-shirt and pizza. Gloves and bags are provided.

Since 1989, this award-winning clean-up for the Ohio River and its tributaries brings thousands of volunteers to the riverbanks to collect tons of trash and debris. River Sweep encompasses the entire length of the river, from its origin in Pittsburgh, PA to its end in Cairo, IL, including nearly 3,000 miles of shoreline and many tributaries.

More than 20,000 volunteers from public organizations, civic groups, recreational clubs, and the general public in six states bordering the river come together to collect more than 20,000 tons of trash and other debris from the banks of the Ohio River and tributaries.

For more information about the Ohio River Sweep or to find other clean-up sites visit www.orsanco.org/sweep

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